To Transmute Phenomena Is to Be Tathagata

To be able to transform material phenomena is to be identical to the Tathāgata. This statement carries two layers of meaning. On one level, it means that only the Tathāgata can completely transform material phenomena without being transformed by them. This is because the Tathāgata, having cultivated to the stage of Buddhahood, has severed all ignorance and perfectly attained all merits and virtues. He can manifest immeasurable, boundless aggregated material bodies in a single thought-moment, and likewise manifest countless three-thousandfold world systems in a single thought-moment. All material phenomena transform according to the Tathāgata's will.

On another level, it means that only the Tathāgatagarbha can transform material phenomena without being transformed by them. This is because the Tathāgatagarbha is the most powerful among the three transforming consciousnesses, containing the seeds of all material phenomena. It can freely output the four great elements according to the intentions of the mental faculty, thereby manifesting and transforming all material phenomena. The deluded mind of the seventh consciousness possesses no seeds and cannot give birth to or transform material phenomena, yet it can activate the Tathāgatagarbha to manifest and transform material phenomena. Therefore, the Tathāgatagarbha is the master of all material phenomena, and all material phenomena belong to the Tathāgatagarbha.